Wearing a sleek black top draped over her shoulders, Maye Musk strolled over to the
green screen that was set up in a Queens backyard, which had been
turned into a makeshift photo studio that morning.

As the photo assistant tossed colorful smoke bombs toward the
scene, Musk maneuvered her body to make it look like her face was
peering out of the wafting fog, which ranged in colors from
yellow to blue and white.

For Musk, the 67-year old model, nutritionist, and mother of
Tesla and SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk, this is just one of
several fun modeling jobs she's had in recent years.

In one of her most recent gigs, she appeared
in a Virgin America campaign where she elegantly held a glass
of champagne on an airplane. She even has a small role in
Beyonce’s music video for “Haunted,” and you can spot
her here if you
look closely.

One of her most memorable shoots landed on the cover of New York
Magazine, where she re-created the iconic photo shoot in which
Demi Moore posed naked while pregnant for renowned photographer
Annie Leibovitz.

Success seems to run in the Musk family — Maye's son, Elon, is
the billionaire entrepreneur behind PayPal, Tesla, and
SpaceX. Her other son, Kimbal, owns a restaurant
chain called The Kitchen that sources ingredients directly
from local farmers. And her daughter, Tosca, is an award-winning
producer and director of films and television shows.

Five jobs at once

Musk has been
modeling since the 1960s, when she was 15, but it wasn't
until recent years that she could afford to take modeling gigs
simply because she wanted to without answering to an agent.

That’s because she was hustling to raise three children while
establishing a career as a model, dietitian, and nutritionist.
When Musk moved with her family from Johannesburg in South Africa
to Toronto in 1989, she worked five jobs to make ends meet.

She worked as a research officer for the University of Toronto so
that her children could go to school there for free and taught
modeling and nutrition classes two nights a week. All while
working on her practice and studying to become a registered
dietitian.

The family lived in a small rent-controlled apartment in
Toronto. “We spent three weeks just taking staples out of
the floor and removing the wallpaper, which was covered in green
velvet vines and was peeling,” Musk said.

The apartment was bare when they initially moved in.

“And the first thing we did, after the first salary I got, [was]
we got an inexpensive carpet put down because we didn’t have
chairs or anything,” she said. “And the second thing we got was a
computer for Elon. And so he would sit on the floor at his
computer.”

Musk recalls a time when the family couldn't afford to buy red
meat for dinner. In the early 1990s, one of her clients who owned
an abattoir (or slaughterhouse) would give the family a roast
every month, even though he had no idea the family couldn’t
afford to buy one themselves.

“He gave us this huge roast once a month for the three of [my
kids],” she said. “And I’d cut it in four, freeze three
[pieces], and we would have a roast once a week that we could
share.”

The whole Musk family worked hard to support each other during
that time, too.

Tosca worked at an upscale grocery store near their apartment
while she went to school, and Maye helped Elon get a job at
Microsoft before he went to college since the husband of one of
her colleagues worked there. Later on, she also helped her sons
find jobs at a bank through a friend.

But she insists that her influence isn’t responsible for the
success of her children, including Elon.

“I never helped my kids,” Musk said. “I was working too hard, my
kids had to be responsible for themselves.”

Elon in particular had tried his hardest in school, but only
in the subjects he liked, Musk said.

“He knew everything, but he was the youngest and the smallest in
his class,” she said.

Her "best investment ever"

Although Musk says she didn't have much influence on the success
of her children, she played a big role in helping Elon and Kimbal
get their first company up and running.

Dusty St.
Amand

In 1995, Elon and Kimbal started Zip2, a software company
that provided business directories and maps to media companies
and ecommerce clients.

At the time, Musk was running her dietetics practice in Toronto
and was preparing to publish her book, "Feeling Fantastic."

In addition to the multiple jobs she held at the time, Musk
worked tirelessly to help her sons start their first
business.

She started by encouraging Kimbal to get more involved in the
business after he had racked up her phone bill by constantly
calling Elon, who had moved to Silicon Valley.

"[Kimbal] would come over to my office at night to discuss
business with Elon by phone," she said. "When my phone account
reached $800 per month, I told Kimbal to stop working and join
Elon."

Since Musk still lived in Toronto when Zip2 was getting
started, she would fly out to Silicon Valley every six weeks.
Musk says she helped her sons with everything from the company's
business plan to supervising interns and taking care of printing
and office expenses. She also bought them food, clothes, and
furniture at the time.

Some time around 1996, Musk donated all of her savings,
which amounted to $10,000, to cover the office rental and
expenses.

She calls it her "best investment ever."

Musk was even up until 2 a.m. with Kimbal at Kinko's
helping him print out colored copies of Zip2's presentations to
investors.

"That night we were exhausted and exhilarated," she said.
"We went to the best restaurant in Palo Alto and I told them this
was the last time I would use my credit card for our dinners. And
that has been true."

By 1997 and 1998, Zip2 began to really take off, and both
Elon and Kimbal became busier with board meetings. So Musk was
asked to meet with the company every week while running her
practice and juggling modeling gigs.

"I would rent a car every Friday night, do the Nordstrom
fashion shows on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. in San Francisco,
San Jose, or Sacramento, and then drive to their office for our
weekly business meeting," she said.

Her children made — and kept — an ambitious
promise

From left to right: Tosca, Kimbal, Maye, and Elon at
Maye's 50th birthday partyMaye
Musk

Musk eventually moved to San Francisco for two-and-a-half years
to be closer to her children and the business before moving to
New York in 1999.

Back when the brothers and Tosca were all working at Zip2, before
the company sold, they couldn’t afford to buy a big gift for
their mother’s 50th birthday.

Instead, they made her a promise.

“They gave me a little toy house and a little toy car the size of
a matchbox and said, ‘One day we’ll buy you the real thing,’” she
said.

Zip2 eventually sold to Compaq Computer for around $300 million,
and the Musk children kept their word.

Musk wishes the world would understand the well-intentioned mind
of her son.

"Elon’s intention is just to do whatever is possible in physics
and engineering to make this planet better,” she said. “People
think there’s an ulterior motive, but there isn’t. That’s all
he’s striving to do. And that really upsets me, when they think
‘Oh, he’s looking for more money.’ No, he’s never done that.”

Now most of Musk’s days are spent modeling and maintaining her
nutrition practice.

But she and her children still find time to meet regularly.

"We do a lot of get-togethers,” she said. “And I’m really
fortunate to have three wonderful kids. We’re in a good position
now, that we can actually eat roast beef every day if we wanted
to. But we wouldn’t dare!”